Acupuncture is a unique ancient technique of inserting very thin needles through your skin at certain point on the body. It is a key component of Tradition Chinese Medicine, an independent and coherent system of thought and practice that has developed in the last 2,000 years.
Acupuncture will improve the energy flow (Qi) that circulates through the 12 regular Meridians (pathways that carry Qi and Blood through the body). Disruption of this flow causes illness. Health equals unblocked flow of energy.
Chinese Medicine considers significant certain aspects of the human body and personality that are not significant to Western medicine and uses terminology that is strange to the Western ears. All relevant information is gathered during an initial visit and woven together until it forms what Chinese medicine calls a “pattern of disharmony”. This reflects a situation of imbalance in a patient’s body. The therapy, using Acupuncture and herbs, then attempts to bring the disharmonies back into balance, to restore harmony to the individual.
The key concepts on which theory of Chinese Medicine builds upon are:
The theory of Yin-Yang – based in the philosophical construct of two polar complements (Yin-Yang). These complementary opposites are neither forces nor material entities; they are labels used to describe how things function in relation to each other and to the universe. They are also used to explain the continuous process of natural change. In Chinese medicine all things are seen as part of a whole. No entity can ever be isolated from its relationship to other entities.
The concept of Qi – absolutely central to the core of Chinese medical thinking and culture. No English word can capture the exact meaning of Qi. It is loosely translated as vital energy, primordial force, energy, sometimes just energy or moving power. For the Chinese, everything is the universe is composed of and defined by its Qi. It is the state of being of any phenomena. It is the pulsation of the Universe itself.
The theory of Five Phases – a classification of phenomena in terms of five processes, represented by the emblems Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. They are not, as wrongly understood by the many Westerners, ultimate constituents of matter. A cultural misunderstanding that always appears when one is trying to look at Chinese concepts with a Western frame of reference. The phase Wood is associated with active functions that are in a growing phase. Fire signifies functions that have reached a maximal state of activity and are about to decline. Metal embodies functions in a declining state. Water represents functions that have reached a maximal state of rest and are about to change. And Earth designates balance of neutrality; in a sense Earth is a buffer between the other Phases. Bottom line, the Five Phases theory is a crucial emblem system used to discuss and represent clinical phenomena.
The goal of treatment in Chinese medicine is to rebalance Yin and Yang of the Organs and to correct the bodily disharmonies.